Wsrtjtyk

I have been trying to figure out how to resize the console window.
Here is the code of a function i am using:

#include <windows.h> 

#include <stdio.h>



#define WIDTH 70

#define HEIGHT 35



HANDLE wHnd; 



void setup() {

    SMALL_RECT windowSize = {0, 0, WIDTH - 1, HEIGHT - 1};

    COORD bufferSize = { WIDTH , HEIGHT };

    wHnd = GetStdHandle(STD_OUTPUT_HANDLE);



    SetConsoleTitle("Conway's Game of Life");

    SetConsoleWindowInfo(wHnd, 1, &windowSize); 

    SetConsoleScreenBufferSize(wHnd, bufferSize);

}

While it works for small widths and heights (like 70 and 35). it does not for the size I need (almost twice as big and yes i resized the buffersize accordingly, always a bit bigger than windowSize). Then it just is the regular size. My next thought was, since it already is quite big, why not go fullscreen.

SetConsoleDisplayMode(wHnd, CONSOLE_FULLSCREEN_MODE, 0);

Before this code snippet worked without a problem but now it does not, not even on other PCs. It stopped working on older projects too weirdly enough.

Any idea how I could launch it in fullscreen? (ALT + ENTER works) Or make the console window big at launch? I had a look at ncurses but I am on Windows 10 and don't know how to use it, besides that my Prof probably doesn't want me to use external libraries.
Thanks for your help! Let me know if I forgot something.

To maximize the console window you can do:

C++

#include <cstdlib>

#include <string>

#include <iostream>

#include <memory>

#include <type_traits>



#include <windows.h>



std::string get_last_error_msg()

{

    auto error_code{ GetLastError() };

    if (!error_code)

        return {};



    LPSTR buffer{};

    auto size{ FormatMessageA(FORMAT_MESSAGE_ALLOCATE_BUFFER | FORMAT_MESSAGE_FROM_SYSTEM | FORMAT_MESSAGE_IGNORE_INSERTS,

        nullptr, error_code, MAKELANGID(LANG_NEUTRAL, SUBLANG_DEFAULT), reinterpret_cast<LPSTR>(&buffer), 0, nullptr) };



    // use a unique_ptr for buffer since the ctor of string could throw

    std::unique_ptr<std::remove_pointer_t<decltype(buffer)>, decltype(&LocalFree)> p{ buffer, LocalFree };

    std::string message{ p.get(), size };

    return message;

}



bool maximize_console()

{

    auto console_window{ GetConsoleWindow() };



    if (!console_window) {

        std::cerr << "GetConsoleWindow() failed :(nn";

        return false;

    }



    auto console_out{ GetStdHandle(STD_OUTPUT_HANDLE) };

    if (console_out == INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE) {

        std::cerr << "GetStdHandle() failed with "" << get_last_error_msg() << "" :(nn";

        return false;

    }



    auto largest_size{ GetLargestConsoleWindowSize(console_out) };

    if (!largest_size.X && !largest_size.Y) {

        std::cerr << "GetLargestConsoleWindowSize() failed with "" << get_last_error_msg() << "" :(nn";

        return false;

    }



    --largest_size.X;

    --largest_size.Y;



    if (!SetConsoleScreenBufferSize(console_out, largest_size)) {

        std::cerr << "SetConsoleScreenBufferSize() failed with "" << get_last_error_msg() << "" :(nn";

        return false;

    }



    if (!ShowWindow(console_window, SW_MAXIMIZE)) {

        std::cerr << "ShowWindow() failed :(nn";

        return false;

    }



    return true;

}



int main()

{

    if (!maximize_console())

        return EXIT_FAILURE;

}

C

#include <stdbool.h>

#include <stdio.h>



#include <windows.h>



LPSTR get_last_error_msg(void)

{

    DWORD error_code = GetLastError();

    if (!error_code)

        return LocalAlloc(LMEM_ZEROINIT, 1);



    LPSTR buffer = NULL;

    FormatMessageA(FORMAT_MESSAGE_ALLOCATE_BUFFER | FORMAT_MESSAGE_FROM_SYSTEM | FORMAT_MESSAGE_IGNORE_INSERTS,

        NULL, error_code, MAKELANGID(LANG_NEUTRAL, SUBLANG_DEFAULT), (LPSTR)&buffer, 0, NULL);



    return buffer;

}



bool maximize_console(void)

{

    HWND console_window = GetConsoleWindow();



    if (!console_window) {

        fputs("GetConsoleWindow() failed :(n", stderr);

        return false;

    }



    HANDLE console_out = GetStdHandle(STD_OUTPUT_HANDLE);

    if (console_out == INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE) {

        LPSTR buffer = get_last_error_msg();

        fprintf(stderr, "GetStdHandle() failed with "%s" :(nn", buffer);

        LocalFree(buffer);

        return false;

    }



    COORD largest_size = GetLargestConsoleWindowSize(console_out);

    if (!largest_size.X && !largest_size.Y) {

        LPSTR buffer = get_last_error_msg();

        fprintf(stderr, "GetLargestConsoleWindowSize() failed with "%s" :(nn", buffer);

        LocalFree(buffer);

        return false;

    }



    --largest_size.X;

    --largest_size.Y;



    if (!SetConsoleScreenBufferSize(console_out, largest_size)) {

        LPSTR buffer = get_last_error_msg();

        fprintf(stderr, "SetConsoleScreenBufferSize() failed with "%s" :(nn", buffer);

        LocalFree(buffer);

    }



    if (!ShowWindow(console_window, SW_MAXIMIZE)) {

        fputs("ShowWindow() failed :(n", stderr);

        return false;

    }



    return true;

}



int main(void)

{

    if (!maximize_console())

        return EXIT_FAILURE;

}